I recently read an article on The Washington Post, where de-platforming right wing influencers had been tracked over time. In it, the authors were offering numbers in terms of follower count from shortly after January 6, 2021 to now and giving some more current examples in this respect.

The most important takeaway? Especially in the case of the US, right wing influencers that have left or have been de-platformed from Twitter / Facebook / YouTube, and migrated to Gab, Gettr, Rumble or Telegram, are now facing a static follower count. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are still many people following these accounts in absolute terms.

BUT, the migration to niche sites in general doesn’t attract the broad audience that exists on other internet platforms.

So instead of access to new followers, these influencers cultivate communities with fans that were previously engaged and migrate with them to other internet platforms. This means that overall follower count remains stagnant, after an initial surge right after the migration. This does not mean that the potential for further radicalisation and mobilisation diminishes or gets lets dangerous. What it does mean is that the dissemination of posts does not have the same broad audience reach potential as before, and that access to gaining new followers is greatly diminished. 

Based on these insights, it is not difficult to infer that there is a case for de-platforming. Banning accounts of people known for distributing fake news or inciting violence can have a powerful impact on their ability to win mainstream attention or political influence.

BUT:

Is it the right call to make?

Who gets to make the decisions?

Has this tool been used fairly, so far?

Was it the right decision to ban former president Trump from Twitter for instance, because of “the risk of further incitement of violence” on January 8, 2021, but leave the account of, e. g. Iran’s Supreme Leader active for a year longer even though his tweets would squarely fall under this definition? (By the way, he was just banned from Twitter as of January 16, 2022 for directly threatening former president Trump).

Final question that I keep mulling over:

Is the polarised online eco system, and where Trump’s own social network Truth Social will find its home, going to able to build a sustainable business solely by catering to the niche that the radicalised right represents?

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